… As Commissioner Features As Panellist At Harvard Climate Action Week Parley
Lagos State Government has expressed its intention and readiness to collaborate and welcome potential investors in areas of municipal solid waste to energy, waste to wealth or liquid waste
The indication was given over the weekend by the State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab while featuring as a panellist at the Harvard University Climate Action Week with the theme: "Rising Seas, Resilient Communities, Climate Adaptation Strategies in West Africa".
According to Wahab, the present administration in Lagos State has set up a climate adaptation plan and a climate resilience plan, which encapsulate its vision and policies.
He explained that the State has already carried out two pre-feasibility studies on waste-to-energy and wastewater projects to demonstrate its commitment.
He added that with a population of over 20 million, generating 13,000 metric tonnes of waste daily, the state is adopting a very sustainable, climate-friendly approach, which tends to see waste as a resource.
"We now see waste as a resource for wealth, a resource for energy because the quantum of waste that ends up in our landfill sites will become very minimal whilst we convert our waste into a better resource".
"As a state, we have set up policies and laws that enable us as a sub-national to reach out to neighbouring countries where they have expertise and a proven track record for what we seek to do", he stated.
He buttressed his point with the contractual agreement signed 18 months ago with a company in Ghana, which will take 4,000 metric tonnes of municipal waste out of the 13,000 generated daily and convert it to wealth, composite fertilisers, recyclable plastics and also set up a transfer station for the most challenging parts.
"If that contractual obligation is successfully carried out, we seek to also decommission one of our biggest landfills at Olusosun and Solous. All these are symbols of a progress of collaboration”, Wahab explained.
The Commissioner said Lagos, as a coastal city, is exposed to the effects of climate change, sea level rise, heavy rainfall and excessive heat, which brings about flash flooding when there is tidal lock due to the inability of water to discharge into its sources.
He opined that as a responsible government, the state has put in place resilient drainage infrastructure and is also pushing back on people who fully choose to build on floodplains and drainage setbacks.
"We also prosecute those who wilfully destroy the ecosystem. We are doing our bit. We also tell citizens to desist from dumping municipal waste in the drainage. It is a recipe for flooding", the Commissioner said.
He lamented that aerial geographic information has shown that the original landmass of Lagos, which was 3,577 sq. m, has increased to 4,050 sq.m due to the massive reclamation of wetlands and lagoon water bodies for real estate construction.
He said the state has also been exercising its legal powers to check excesses that come with this human activity by insisting that anyone who intends to embark on a reclamation must obtain an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval.
Wahab added that such an application for reclamation must have a drainage master plan to demonstrate how storm water from that reclamation will be properly discharged into the water body.
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